On the 16th of May Pope Francis addressed the new new non-resident ambassadors to the Holy See from Kyrgyzstan, Antigua and Barbuda, Luxembourg and Botswana. He spoke about the worldwide financial and economic crisis saying that this crisis highlights "the gravely deficient human perspective, which reduces man to one of his needs alone, namely, consumption. Worse yet, human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away. We have started a throw-away culture. This tendency is seen on the level of individuals and whole societies; and it is being promoted!" He also said that there is a need for financial reform along ethical lines that would produce in its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone, something that would require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders. Full text can be found here...